November 2016: Positive vibes ?

This month we’re all about doing good and sending out positive vibes. We’re offering great rates on long bookings over Christmas to help you get organised, we’ve opened up free membership for Seniors Card holders, and we’re sharing all new reports on how carshare is doing good for the world. Don’t forget to check out our specials page for pods on special near you, and all our current offers.

Keep a car for Christmas

It’s not December yet, so it’s perfectly fine if you’re not sure whose family you’re spending Christmas with, what you’re doing for New Year’s Eve, how much leave you’re going to take, whether you’re going to get out of the city on Australia Day… Don’t panic, plan! Book a car to yourself for a week or longer, and get it all done without breaking a sweat. We’re offering 1/3 off bookings 7 days or longer, between the 17th of December and the end of January. For about $50/day (depending on your plan), fuel is included, and it’s one less thing to worry about. This offer ends on the 25th of November, so get on the booking system today and choose an economy car or SUV in a CBD pod (postcodes 2000 and 3000), and use CHRIMBO16 to get 1/3 off. Any premium location surcharges will be removed at billing, so you’re safe to ignore those.

Free GoGet for Seniors

We think the costs and hassles of owning a car are something everyone should be free from, so we’re launching a great new plan just for seniors – called GoSenior! It features our lowest rates with no joining or ongoing membership fees, and all Seniors Card holders are eligible to join. Rates are from just $6.35/hour or $74/day, equivalent to GoFrequent membership. If you know someone who has a Seniors Card and would benefit from free GoGet membership, we’re offering a $25 referral bonus for all new GoSenior members. Just have them pop your name in the application form, and you’ll both get $25 free driving credit! Already a member with a Seniors Card? You can switch to GoSenior today! Just send a photo of it to application@goget.com.au with your membership details.

New Melbourne Airport Pod

The easiest way to get out of Melbourne Airport just got a whole lot easier – introducing a new GoGet Airport Pod! Our new pod at Melbourne Airport is only a short walk from arrivals, on the top floor of the “At Terminal T4 Car Park”. The official launch is next week, but 5 cars are available to book right now, including a people mover and an Audi A3. This will shortly be expanded to even more cars and different types of vehicles, so you can have the right car for no matter what you’re up to in Melbourne. If you’re planning a trip to Melbourne soon, book in a car early, so you can touch down, tap on and drive away. It really is the easiest way to get away from the airport to where you need to be.

Guide to Aussie Driving

Last month we asked if any of Australia’s road rules, customs or laws tripped you up when you started driving down under. We had an amazing response, with people from all over the world sharing their stories of frustration, embarrassment and confusion! The biggest thing was… drumroll… parking in the direction of traffic, of course! We must be the only country with this rule, because people from almost every country have been caught by it. The other big one was giving way to pedestrians when turning at an intersection, even when your arrow is green – in other countries if it’s green, you go. Because they don’t tell you this sort of thing at the airport, we’ll be turning all this great info into a proper guide for new arrivals to Australia. Keep an eye out for it on our Facebook page if you want to read some good stories.

New cars and pods – ACT

Tip of the Month

Our cars get cleaned about twice a month, visited by professionals who use low water techniques to make sure suds and filth aren’t being run off into the stormwater. That means that sometimes the car will be fresh and sparkling when you use it, and other times the condition really depends on who used it before you. Because our cleaners don’t visit between each and every booking, the golden rule applies: leave your car just how you’d like to pick one up. If you don’t want to drive with other people’s rubbish floating around, make sure to take everything with you at the end of your trip. If you do find that, as tidy as you are, your car always seems to come with little extras for your booking, please let us know! We can get in touch with the previous member and let them know their gifts aren’t appreciated.

GoGet on Film

From people movers ferrying around German Film Fest VIPs, to vans carting camera gear for on-site filming, GoGet is proud to be a small part of the Australian film scene. The latest film project we’re excited to be part of is How the Light Gets in, a short film by the Gifthorse Collective. Described as a “meditation on mental illness in a close-knit family”, the film was awarded a grant by the Lexus Short Film Fellowship and will premiere at Sydney Film Festival 2017. Gabriella the Van was on hand to help out during filming, and the film is currently in post-production. We can’t wait to see it! If you’re shooting a film and need some road support, send us an email and tell us what you’re up to. We can’t say yes to all requests, but ask us for what you need and we’ll see what we can do!

Carshare’s Doing Good

We’ve been in the news lately, with the headline that Sydney outpaces tech powerhouse cities like San Francisco and Boston for carshare uptake! The article comes from a report called The Impact of Car Share Services in Australia, which has been a great exercise at taking a step back and seeing why carshare does matter, and how important it is for making our growing cities work efficiently. It confirms what carshare is theorised to deliver: fewer people owning cars, and cars being driven a whole lot less – in the order of 37 million kilometres a year! The impacts on traffic congestion, parking pressure, CO2 emissions, air pollution and even traffic fatalities are enormous. AECOM also wrote a report, Transport on Demand: Accelerating Australian Cities, whichcasts an eye to the future and what is required to change our relationship with cars. It not only shows that carshare is doing great at keeping car ownership down in Australian cities, but that there’s no reason why it can’t keep going! If you want to learn more about how you’re making a real difference as a carshare member, the Committee for Sydney did a snapshot that is pretty easy to read and gets to the point.

Volunteer at Midsumma Festival

Midsumma Festival is celebrating its 30th year next January, and as very proud sponsors, we’re already getting excited! To help make 2017 the best Festival yet, Midsumma are currently recruiting volunteers. They rely heavily on lovely people like you volunteering and helping them with everything it takes to make such a big festival tick: admin tasks leading up to the festival, marshalling at the Pride March, event organising, ticketing, production and all kinds of other roles. If you love Midsumma as much as we do, check out their volunteering page to see how you can help out. Speaking of Midsumma, we’ll be in next year’s Pride March and we’re after some members to join our float. If you’d like to come party click here and we’ll email you with more details closer to the event.

Cool things our members are doing

Have you ever thought about hosting an exchange student? It’s a fantastic experience; you get to play the host introducing an exchange student to Australian culture, while forming a memorable bond with a new person and learning about their way of life too. AFS is a volunteer-driven student exchange program, and is one of the oldest and most trusted organisations for it. The AFS team use GoGet a lot to get around, meet potential new hosts and visit students during their stay, and being such a reliable, cool bunch, they want to invite their fellow members to become hosts! You can host a student for as little as a few weeks, a school term of a few months, or a full year. If you’re interested, you can call them on 1300 131 736, email aus.hosting@afs.org go along to their Open Day in Surry Hills on December 6th. You can also have a peek at the AFS website and read what other hosts have to say about the experience. If you’re doing cool things, or have something you’d like to share, please write to us. The GoGet Team